When the Government first unveiled its commemoration programme for 1916,
it was widely viewed as short-term, shambolic and superficial.
Since then a former leader of Fine Gael put forward the view that the
Rising was not needed and was a civil war.

Following widespread criticism, and in the run-up to the elections, the
Government has brought forward a more fitting commemoration. This is to
be welcomed.
However, there remains vacuity at the centre of the plans. This
Government just doesn’t get 1916. It is an inconvenient issue and you
get the impression that it just wants the commemorations to be out of
the way and to return to business as usual.

Its approach has been to strip away any politics and context to the
Rising: to reduce it to a tragedy in which death and injury was
inflicted equally on all sides, and so all sides must be equally
remembered.

This is a shallow and wholly self-serving approach to our history.
Devoid of context or politics, the Rising is portrayed as a moment in
history that should be kept in a little glass case and studied; or, in
the view of some in the Redmondite wing of Fine Gael, an unnecessary
moment of madness.

War is brutal. It visits death and injury on all sides. The grief of a
mother and father, brother and sister, or son and daughter is not
diminished by circumstance of that loss. The grief of the family of a
Royal Irish Constabulary member was no different from that of a member
of the Irish Republican Army who fought in the GPO or a civilian killed
on the streets. All have the right to be respected and remembered.

REPUBLICAN BELIEFS

However, it is wrong for the State commemoration to be reduced solely to
an act of remembrance for a collection of individuals. While each has a
story of individual courage and loss, those involved in the Rising were
more than a collection of individuals. They were an army and a movement
with a shared republican politics, shaped by their experience of the
British empire and world war.

Those who took part in the Rising gave their lives and liberty to
deliver the republic enshrined in the Proclamation. A republic built on
the principles of equality and sovereignty, of human rights and civil
liberties, and of unity and nationhood. Principles that remain a
challenge to successive governments in this State.

It is in these principles that we find the Government’s problem with the
commemoration. For this Government, it is easier to deal with the notion
of individual loss and sacrifice than promote the ideas of the
Proclamation.

So the Government does not address the inequality, division and lack of
sovereignty that drove a generation of republicans on to the streets.
They even proposed to rewrite the Proclamation and hope we forget that
the original one has been undermined by the actions of successive
governments. Heaven forbid we mention the North or the failure that is
partition.

The memory and ownership of 1916 does not exclusively belong to Sinn
Fein, any other party or the Government. The commemoration of the Rising
cannot be limited to a lecture, an exhibition or a parade.

NATIONAL RENEWAL

It belongs to the Irish nation, all the people who share this island and
the Irish nation spread across the globe. While the commemoration must
be an opportunity for remembrance, it is also an opportunity for
national renewal, for building a new republic.

In the last election, the Government promised a democratic revolution
and delivered hardship, inequality, continued loss of sovereignty, a
hands-off attitude to the North and the Belfast Agreement. There is a
demand across our nation for change, a demand for the republic promised
in 1916.

Our history cannot be encased in a museum or mausoleum; it is part of
who we are, where we are from and where we want to go.
That is why Sinn Fein developed a programme of events to mark 1916. We
are seeking to encourage communities to engage with their heritage and
to rise to the challenge of delivering a republic for citizens.

It would appear that the Government is afraid to speak of Easter week,
afraid of the challenge that it opens and afraid of the views of
citizens.

The most fitting tribute to the loss of past generations, including
republicans, British and civilians is to deliver the republic promised
on the steps of the GPO, a 32-county republic in which citizens have
equality and rights and the sovereignty of the nation is protected.

This generation has the opportunity and ability to deliver such a
republic without the sacrifice of previous generations. There is a
peaceful and democratic way to achieve this. But it will require
leadership, determination and putting the needs of the nation above
individual political position.

Maybe the real reason the Government does not want to talk about the
unfinished business of 1916 is that it will remind it of its failure and
remind citizens that they retain the power to make good the
Proclamation.

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